Collaborative Divorce – Page 2

Divorce and Custody: Possession Schedules for Children Under Age Three

When couples go through a divorce with children or just a custody case, one of the most important things to be determined is the possession schedule for the children.

If the parties cannot agree to a schedule that is in the Best Interest of the Children, the court will order a schedule.

As discussed in a prior blog post, Texas has established a Standard Possession Schedule (SPO) for use by divorce and custody courts in ordering the possession of children. By law, however, the SPO is designed to be used for children age three and over.

So what about children under the age of three?

Neither the Texas Family Code nor case law establish a standard schedule for children under the age of three.

For children that young, the Family Code states that “The court shall render an order appropriate under the circumstances” and then gives a non-exhaustive list of factors that courts are obligated to consider.

The factors detailed in the Code are:

(1) the caregiving provided to the child before and during the current suit;

(2) the effect on the child that may result from separation from either party;

(3) the availability of the parties as caregivers and the willingness of the parties to personally care for the child;

(4) the physical, medical, behavioral, and developmental needs of the child;

(5) the physical, medical, emotional, economic, and social conditions of the parties;

(6) the impact and influence of individuals, other than the parties, who will be present during periods of possession;

(7) the presence of siblings during periods of possession;

(8) the child’s need to develop healthy attachments to both parents;

(9) the child’s need for continuity of routine; and

(10) the location and proximity of the residences of the parties.

The code also states that the court shall consider “the need for a temporary possession schedule that incrementally shifts to” an appropriate schedule beginning at age three, with the incremental shifts based upon what would be appropriate, given the child’s age, and any evidence of “minimal or inconsistent contact with the child” by either parent.

Finally, the Code mandates the Courts consider “the ability of the parties to share in the responsibilities, rights, and duties of parenting” and “any other evidence of the best interest of the child.”

So what does a “a temporary possession schedule that incrementally shifts” (a “stairstep schedule” or “stairstep possession schedule”) look like?

With respect to Weekday and Weekend Possession, it may provide that the non-primary parent’s possession schedule is as follows:

Tuesdays – On Tuesday of each week, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m.

Thursdays – On Thursday of each week, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and ending at 8:00 p.m.

Saturdays Until the Child’s Second Birthday – Until the child reaches two years of age, on the first, third, and fifth Saturday of each month, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and ending at 5:00 p.m. on that same day.

Sundays Until the Child’s Second Birthday – Until the child reaches two years of age, on the first, third, and fifth Sunday of each month, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and ending at 5:00 p.m. on that same day.

Weekends Beginning on the Child’s Second Birthday-When the child reaches two years of age, on weekends, beginning at 10:30 a.m. on the first, third, and fifth Saturday of each month and ending at 6:00 p.m. on the following Sunday.

In addition to these terms, it would likely have additional time for holidays and the child’s birthday.

But, remember that stairstep schedules like that above are not mandatory. Even after considering all of the factors found in the Family Code, the Court may order that the non-primary parent have a standard possession schedule or even a 50-50 schedule, such as a week-on, week-off schedule.

If the parents don’t agree, it is up to the discretion of the court. Just because an SPO or more is not presumed the correct choice, does not mean that a court cannot decide, in its discretion, that it is the best choice.

There is a lot to know about possession schedules, as well as all of the other components of a custody order. To discuss any of this with the attorneys at the Beal Law Firm, call 817.261.4333 or 214.414.0418, or write us at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com. You can find us on the web at www.dfwdivorce.com.

Divorce: How are stock options and restricted stock handled?

According to Texas law, at the time of divorce, all community property is divisible. Moreover, all property owned by the parties in a divorce is presumed community until and unless proven to be separate property.

The court has no jurisdiction to divest either party of his or her separate property. Jurisdiction means power. Divest means take. So the court has no power to take anyone’s separate property from them.

Employer Provided Stock Options and Employer Provided Restricted Stock that are owned at the time of divorce are divisible, just like any other property. The community portion is divisible, the separate portion is not.

So, in order to determine how much of the Options or Stock is divisible, you must first determine how much of it is separate and how much of it is community.

The Texas Family Code explains how to perform the calculations to find out what is separate and what is community.

Pursuant to Section 3.007 of the Code:

A spouse who is a participant in an employer-provided stock option plan or an employer-provided restricted stock plan has a separate property interest in the options or restricted stock granted to the spouse under the plan as follows:

if the option or stock was granted to the spouse before marriage but required continued employment during marriage before the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed, the spouse’s separate property interest is equal to the fraction of the option or restricted stock in which:

the numerator is the sum of

the period from the date the option or stock was granted until the date of marriage; and

if the option or stock also required continued employment following the date of dissolution of the marriage before the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed, the period from the date of dissolution of the marriage until the date the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed;

and

the denominator is the period from the date the option or stock was granted until the date the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed; and

if the option or stock was granted to the spouse during the marriage but required continued employment following the date of dissolution of the marriage before the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed, the spouse’s separate property interest is equal to the fraction of the option or restricted stock in which

the numerator is the period from the date of dissolution of the marriage until the date the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed; and

the denominator is the period from the date the option or stock was granted until the date the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed.

The Code also provides that the computation must be done separately “for each component of the benefit requiring varying periods of employment before the grant could be exercised or the restriction removed.”

So basically, the value of the Options or Stock that is attributable to the period before marriage or after marriage is separate property. The amount attributable to the time that a person is married is community. These concepts are completely consistent with the analysis done for all property to determine whether its character is separate or community.

If you would like to discuss your situation with the attorneys at the Beal Law Firm, please call us at 817.261.4333 or 214.414.0418 or write us at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com. You can find us on the web at www.dfwdivorce.com.

Child Support: Additional factors for the court to consider

As discussed in a previous blog post, courts generally calculate child support based upon the Guidelines found in the Texas Family Code.

There is, however, a section of the family code that allows a court to determine if it would be “unjust or inappropriate under the circumstances” to apply the Guidelines.

Texas Family Code Section 154.123 provides “Additional Factors for Court to Consider” when determining the appropriate amount of child support.

Per the Family Code, the following are the factors that a court “shall consider evidence of”:

(1) the age and needs of the child;

(2) the ability of the parents to contribute to the support of the child;

(3) any financial resources available for the support of the child;

(4) the amount of time of possession of and access to a child;

(5) the amount of the obligee’s net resources, including the earning potential of the obligee if the actual income of the obligee is significantly less than what the obligee could earn because the obligee is intentionally unemployed or underemployed and including an increase or decrease in the income of the obligee or income that may be attributed to the property and assets of the obligee;

(6) child care expenses incurred by either party in order to maintain gainful employment;

(7) whether either party has the managing conservatorship or actual physical custody of another child;

(8) the amount of alimony or spousal maintenance actually and currently being paid or received by a party;

(9) the expenses for a son or daughter for education beyond secondary school;

(10) whether the obligor or obligee has an automobile, housing, or other benefits furnished by his or her employer, another person, or a business entity;

(11) the amount of other deductions from the wage or salary income and from other compensation for personal services of the parties;

(12) provision for health care insurance and payment of uninsured medical expenses;

(13) special or extraordinary educational, health care, or other expenses of the parties or of the child;

(14) the cost of travel in order to exercise possession of and access to a child;

(15) positive or negative cash flow from any real and personal property and assets, including a business and investments;

(16) debts or debt service assumed by either party; and

(17) any other reason consistent with the best interest of the child, taking into consideration the circumstances of the parents.

As illustrated by number 17, this list is non-exhaustive. Per the Texas Family Code, all evidence on the subject is to be considered. In reality, however, whether the court will allow you to introduce evidence of any of these factors depends upon the judge before whom the case is tried, subject to review by an appellate court.

To discuss child support with any of the attorneys at the Beal Law Firm, call us at 817.261.4333 or 214.414.0418, or write us at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com. Our web address is www.dfwdivorce.com.

Guideline Child Support: How does it work?

The Texas Family Code is an amazing legislative work. It covers divorce, annulment, how to divide stock options, rules regarding whom you can marry and when, provisions for child custody, grandparent rights, and more. There may not be any part of the Family Code, however, that causes as much heartache as child support.

For those getting child support, it is often either not enough or far more than necessary. For those paying it, the amount is almost always more than desired.

Texas courts typically award child support using the Guidelines for Child Support found in Chapter 154 of the Texas Family Code.

The use of the Guidelines is “rebuttably presumed in best interest of child.” That means that a court can use the guidelines and will virtually never be reversed by an appellate court for having done so. (For a discussion of Best Interest, see this previous blog post.)

The basics of the Guidelines are this:

Determine the number of children for which support is being considered.

The amount of guideline support varies based upon the number of children in the case being considered. For one child, the starting percentage is 20%. For two, it’s 25%. And it continues to go up by 5% for each child, up to five children. For six or more children, the guideline amount is to be “not less than” it would be for five.

Determine how many total children the obligor is responsible for.

The person paying the child support is known as the obligor. The next step to determine the guideline amount is to determine how many children the obligor has a legal duty to support. That number includes the children in the case for which support is being calculated, and any others that he or she is legally obligated to support, whether the support is currently order or being paid. The number does not include step-children. The percentage determined in step 1, gets reduced if there are additional children for whom support is ordered.

Determine the Net Resources of the Obligor.

In Texas, for Guideline support, only the income or other resources of the obligor are considered. That means that even if the obligee – the one getting the support – is a multi-millionaire and the obligor is making minimum wage, the obligor must still pay. “Net Resources” basically includes all income of the obligor, regardless of the source of the income. There is often a misunderstanding about how “net” resources, as opposed to “gross” resources are determined. In short, the net amount is the amount that the Attorney General’s chart says should be the net, not what the net is in reality.

Apply the appropriate percentage to the amount of the net resources to which guidelines apply.

There is not a maximum amount of child support – a court can order a person making $5,000.00 per month to pay $4,000.00 per month in child support. But, there is a “presumptive max” of child support, and that is the percentage obtained in 1 and 2 applied to maximum amount specified in the Family Code. The maximum number is designed to go up over time.

There are provisions in the code for the court to disregard the guidelines, and for the court to award more or less than what the calculation detailed above would lead to. Additionally, as with virtually everything in family law, this just covers the basics. There is a lot more to it.

To discuss any of this with the attorneys of the Beal Law Firm, call us at 817.261.4333 or 214.414.0418. You can write us anytime at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com or find us on the web at www.dfwdivorce.com.

Collaborative Divorce: Fast Five Questions and Answers

There are lots of things about Collaborative Divorce that are misunderstood. These Five Questions and Answers should clear up some of the more common misconceptions:

1. Can my spouse and I do a Collaborative Divorce without lawyers?

No. The term Collaborative Divorce does not mean the same thing as Amicable Divorce, Agreed Divorce, or Uncontested Divorce. A Collaborative Divorce may in fact be amicable. If it ends with an Agreed Decree, then it is an agreed divorce. And a Collaborative Divorce may be more or less uncontested – for more on that see this earlier Blog post.

But, a Collaborative Divorce in Texas is by definition a case that is conducted pursuant to the Collaborative Family Law Act, which is Title 1A of the Texas Family Code. Section 15.052 of Title 1A states that a Collaborative Divorce is one “in which parties: (A) sign a collaborative family law participation agreement; and (B) are represented by collaborative family law lawyers.”

So, when a potential client comes to an attorney and says, “I have been doing a Collaborative Divorce with my husband/wife and his/her lawyer, but now I think I need to get a lawyer,” the potential client is at best mistaken as to what is going on, and at worst being defrauded.

2. Do we have to use Neutrals in our Collaborative law case?

The traditional Texas model for Collaborative Divorce is two lawyers, plus two neutrals – a Financial Professional and a Mental Health Professional.

The Financial Professional is tasked with gathering and assembling the financial information of the parties, helping the parties work on budgeting, and offering expertise on various financial matters.

The Mental Health Professional is not a part of the process to psychoanalyze the parties. His or her job is to help the parties develop a parenting plan, if there are children involved, conduct the meetings that are a part of the Collaborative Process, and offer suggestions for matters that will help meet the parties’ personal goals, e.g. closure with step-children.

But, there is no requirement that neutrals be used. Or that both neutrals be used. If the parties and the attorneys agree, a Collaborative Divorce can proceed without one or both of the traditional neutrals.

3. Do I have to use an attorney from the list that my spouse gave me?

No. Although many Collaborative Divorce attorneys are members of “Practice Groups,” not all are. Moreover, there is no requirement that a husband or wife choose a Collaborative attorney from the list provided by his or her spouse.

There is no requirement to choose an attorney from any Practice Group and the choice of an attorney is completely up to the party.

4. Will a Collaborative case be faster than a non-collaborative case?

There is no way of knowing. A collaborative divorce may be faster than a litigation case, but it may also take more time. A non-collaborative divorce must last for at least 60 days, unless a waiver is obtained based upon family violence. How much longer a case lasts depends upon whether the parties are able to settle and when. For more on the stages of a divorce, see this prior blog post.

It is unlikely that a Collaborative Divorce will take less than 60 days, but many Collaborative cases end far earlier than many hotly contested divorces.

5. Will a Collaborative Divorce be less expensive than a non-collaborative divorce?

Once again, there is no way of knowing. Collaborative Divorces involve a series of meetings with at least two attorneys, and probably two neutrals billing at hourly rates.

Prior to each meeting, there may be some telephone calls between the attorneys and their clients and between the Team of attorneys and neutrals – all billed at hourly rates. There may be pre-meetings of the Team before the Joint meetings of everyone, and there is typically a Team debriefing period after the meeting – all billed at hourly rates.

Given that it is unlikely that a Collaborative Divorce would be wrapped up without at least three or four lengthy meetings, it’s not hard to see that there may be considerable cost to a Collaborative Case.

But, given that a non-collaborative case can involve lengthy hearings with a considerable number of hours spent in preparation by both sides, and can sometimes involve both parties hiring financial and/or mental health experts, it’s easy to see that in some cases Collaborative Divorce is much less expensive than non-collaborative divorce.

Bonus Question:

6. Is Collaborative Divorce only appropriate if there is no conflict?

No. Collaborative cases can have much of the same angst that traditional cases have – sometimes more. A Collaborative Divorce has many benefits that traditional cases do not, and they can be successfully completed even where the parties have serious disagreements and issues.

To discuss your case and whether it would be a good candidate to handle in the Collaborative Model, call us at 817.261.4333 or 214.414.0418. You can also write us at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com or find us on our website www.dfwdivorce.com. We are Beal Law Firm, PLLC.

How much will my case cost? The Top Four Determining Factors

That may be the number one thing on everyone’s mind that is involved in a divorce, custody, or other family law case. If not, it’s close to the top.

Divorce and Custody attorneys hear it all the time. The follow-up question is: Why can’t you tell me how much this will cost?

The reason is that the cost generally depends upon several factors, none of which your attorney controls. Most attorneys charge an hourly rate and most of the few that don’t have a number of “outs” that allow their “flat fees” to not really end up being flat fees, so these thoughts still apply.

So the bottom line is that an attorney cannot generally tell you what your case will cost because he or she does not know how much of his or her time it will take to handle the case.

Here are a few things that impact the amount of time that a case requires and which then affect how much the case will cost:

1. What your spouse or ex does

Fighting takes time. If your spouse or ex is the type that will fight about things that are insignificant, refuse to answer questions the first time he or she is asked, and generally make things more difficult, your attorney is going to have to spend more time dealing with your case.

2. What your spouse’s or ex’s attorney does

Attorneys can disagree without being disagreeable. The Texas Supreme Court came up with a thing called the Texas Lawyer’s Creed a couple decades ago because the problem of lawyers being so disagreeable had gotten out of hand. The Lawyer’s Creed contains a number of rules, including things like this:

I will not quarrel over matters of form or style, but I will concentrate on matters of substance.

I will readily stipulate to undisputed facts in order to avoid needless costs or inconvenience for any party.

I will refrain from excessive and abusive discovery.

I will comply with all reasonable discovery requests. I will not resist discovery requests which are not objectionable.

I will not make objections nor give instructions to a witness for the purpose of delaying or obstructing the discovery process.

If both your attorney and the opposing attorney will follow these rules, your case will cost less. If not, it will cost more.

3. What the court does

Courts have different rules and different ways of doing things. If your court requires the attorneys to appear in person to tell the judge what the status of the case is, that will cost more than if the attorneys can send an email to the court coordinator. If the court requires a pre-trial hearing to set a case for trial, instead of a call or visit to the court coordinator, the hearing will be more expensive. If the court believes that an Amicus attorney should be appointed to look after the interest of the children in a custody case, that will cost more than if the Amicus was not appointed.

4. The decisions that you make

Finally, you will have a number of choices to make throughout the case. When you are asked a question in discovery, your decision on whether to answer fully and completely on the first request will have an impact on how much the case costs. If you are in a county with associate judges, your decision on whether to appeal the associate judge’s ruling or not will determine whether another hearing is needed. Deciding to appeal may be the right decision, but it will mean preparation for and conducting another hearing – which leads to more attorneys’ fees.

So, why can’t your lawyer tell you how much the case is going to cost? Because neither you nor your attorney know what the future holds. Neither of you knows how much time your attorney is going to have to spend dealing with your case, and without that information, there is no way to know.

There are things you can do to save money. Some of them are found in one of our previous blog posts, Six Ways to Save Money in Your Divorce or Custody Case. One of the biggest is: find a lawyer that you trust and ask questions along the way about the choices that need to be made, and how the decisions will impact both the cost on the front end — the attorneys’ fees — and the cost on the back end — the result.

If you would like to talk to one of the Beal Law Firm attorneys about representation, you can reach us at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com or call us at 817.261.4333 or 214.414.0418. You can always find us at www.dfwdivorce.com

Six Ways to Save Money in Your Divorce or Custody Case

Hiring a competent attorney for any type of case is expensive. This article is written assuming that you are going to hire an attorney for your divorce, custody or other family law case — whether you should is a topic for another day.

Now that you’ve gotten an attorney, here are some ways to save money:

1. Hire a good attorney, then listen to your attorney not your spouse or ex

It is amazing and unfortunate how many people will be in a huge battle with their ex or soon to be ex, yet believe everything the ex tells them, rather than listening to what their attorney says. If you don’t trust your attorney, get a new attorney. If you have an attorney that you trust, listen to him or her. It is highly unlikely that you can rely on what your ex says, if you’re at war.

2. Do what your attorney asks

During the case, your attorney will have a great many tasks for you to do — complete a timeline, answer various questionnaires, fill out an inventory, gather documents, etc. You don’t have to do anything, but if you don’t you are going to cost yourself a great deal of money, and maybe more. At a minimum, your attorney will have to spend time trying to solve the problem another way — without the information that he or she has asked you for. If you’ve been asked for something critical, and you don’t provide it, you could lose your entire case.

3. Send documents, photos, etc. in one email, rather than a bunch of emails

Your attorney will undoubtedly ask you to send him or her documents, photos, videos, etc. If you are providing hard-copies, when you deliver them, have them organized, but not to a crazy degree. If you organize them to the point that they cannot be easily copied, worked with, etc., you are actually costing yourself money. If you are sending the items by email, it will help if you send them in reasonably sized groups. That is, don’t send 1,000 documents in one email, but even more importantly don’t send one each in 1,000 different emails.

4. Don’t have your attorney draft an agreement until an agreement is reached

If you think that you have reached an agreement with your ex, that’s great. But, having your attorney draft a 70 page divorce decree, that then gets substantially changed a number of times, can cost you an unbelievable amount of money. Often, it’s best to bullet point tentative agreements and make sure that there is really a meeting of the minds before incurring the cost of a major drafting project.

5. Don’t fight any more than necessary and don’t fight over things that don’t matter

Fighting is expensive. It takes attorney time, and that’s what attorneys sell — so time is truly money. If something is worth fighting over, the cost may be worth it, but fighting needlessly or over things that really don’t matter is a way to waste an incredible amount of money. Spending $7,500.00 of attorneys’ fees to get a couch that you could replace for $750.00 is probably a really bad expenditure of money.

6. Do not use your attorney as a counselor

Most people know this, but it’s hard to remember it. Attorneys generally cost more than mental health professionals, and no matter how much you like your attorney, if the discussion you are having does not further the cause of your case, you will be far happier at invoice time if you have spent your time counseling with a friend or mental health professional, rather than your attorney.

Finally, remember: there’s saving money on the front end, and saving money on the back end. Any competent attorney can settle your case in a few days, if you are willing to give the other side everything that he or she wants. That may save you some attorneys’ on the front end, but cost you a fortune on the back end. So the bottom line is, look for realistic ways to save money, but be smart.

Is Collaborative Divorce the Same Thing as Uncontested Divorce?

Recently, we conducted a very unscientific poll on the @BealLawFirm twitter account. The question asked was, “Do you know the difference between a Collaborative Divorce and an Uncontested Divorce?” The choices were: “1) Yes, 2) No, and 3) Aren’t they the same?” Fewer than 6 in 10 people even claimed to understand the difference between the two – and a huge percentage of the account followers are lawyers, law firms, etc.

So, with more than 4 in 10 people possibly not understanding the difference between the two – or even if there is one, it seems that Collaborative Divorce bears some explaining.

Collaborative Divorce is an alternative to traditional divorce. Traditional divorce is conducted in the litigation model, whereas Collaborative Divorce is an entirely different model.

In the Litigation Model, divorces typically move through several stages until the case is either settled or makes it to trial. The stages are:

Negotiation between the parties;
Negotiation between the attorneys;
Mediation;
Post-mediation negotiation; and
Trial.

Throughout all of these stages, the parties can engage in formal discovery – including written interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, requests for disclosure, written depositions, and oral depositions – and/or ask the court to grant various requests in countless motions and hearings.

In a Collaborative Divorce, the parties agree that they will suspend their rights to engage in anything other than formal meetings between themselves and the rest of the collaborative team, which typically includes their attorneys and two neutral professionals. One of the neutrals is known as the Financial Professional (FP) – usually a CPA, CFP, or CDFA – and the other is the Mental Health Professional (MHP). Although the MHP is likely to be a psychologist or licensed clinical social worker, the role of the MHP is not to counsel or analyze any of the participants. Rather, the MHP’s job is to run the meetings and help the parties arrive at an agreement on parenting issues. The FP’s job is to gather the parties’ financial information and help construct current and proposed budgets.

So, with all that being said, what is a Collaborative Divorce? It is a series of meetings in which the parties attempt to arrive at an agreement on all issues in their case. Because the meetings and everything discussed at the meetings are confidential, should the process break down, the parties are free to re-enter the Litigation Model, but both of the Collaborative Attorneys MUST withdraw from representation at that point.

What is an Uncontested Divorce? It is an ill-defined term that everyone uses to describe a case in which the parties to a divorce argue to a lesser degree than the arguing that takes place in a divorce that is referred to as a Contested Divorce.

The terms do not mean the same thing, because typically when an attorney speaks of an Uncontested Divorce, he or she is talking about a case in which the parties are in the Litigation Model, but able to arrive at an agreement fairly early in the process. The term Collaborative Divorce is reserved for divorces that are being conducted in the Collaborative Model and under the rules for Collaborative Divorce promulgated in the Texas Family Code.

If you would like to discuss your needs with respect to a Collaborative Divorce, Uncontested Divorce, or Contested Divorce, please contact us at lawyers@dfwdivorce.com or find us at www.dfwdivorce.com.

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